The investors in Life Time Group Holdings, Inc.'s (NYSE:LTH) will be rubbing their hands together with glee today, after the share price leapt 20% to US$32.19 in the week following its first-quarter results. Revenues were US$789m, approximately in line with expectations, although statutory earnings per share (EPS) performed substantially better. EPS of US$0.39 were also better than expected, beating analyst predictions by 15%. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. We thought readers would find it interesting to see the analysts latest (statutory) post-earnings forecasts for next year.

Taking into account the latest results, the most recent consensus for Life Time Group Holdings from 14 analysts is for revenues of US$3.33b in 2026. If met, it would imply a meaningful 8.2% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are expected to fall 13% to US$1.51 in the same period. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$3.32b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.46 in 2026. The analysts seems to have become more bullish on the business, judging by their new earnings per share estimates.

The consensus price target was unchanged at US$40.79, implying that the improved earnings outlook is not expected to have a long term impact on value creation for shareholders. That's not the only conclusion we can draw from this data however, as some investors also like to consider the spread in estimates when evaluating analyst price targets. There are some variant perceptions on Life Time Group Holdings, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$45.00 and the most bearish at US$36.00 per share. Even so, with a relatively close grouping of estimates, it looks like the analysts are quite confident in their valuations, suggesting Life Time Group Holdings is an easy business to forecast or the the analysts are all using similar assumptions.

Taking a look at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can understand these forecasts is to see how they compare to both past performance and industry growth estimates. It's pretty clear that there is an expectation that Life Time Group Holdings' revenue growth will slow down substantially, with revenues to the end of 2026 expected to display 11% growth on an annualised basis. This is compared to a historical growth rate of 21% over the past five years. Compare this to the 159 other companies in this industry with analyst coverage, which are forecast to grow their revenue at 9.0% per year. Factoring in the forecast slowdown in growth, it looks like Life Time Group Holdings is forecast to grow at about the same rate as the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing here is that the analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates, suggesting that there has been a clear increase in optimism towards Life Time Group Holdings following these results. They also reconfirmed their revenue estimates, with the company predicted to grow at about the same rate as the wider industry. The consensus price target held steady at US$40.79, with the latest estimates not enough to have an impact on their price targets.

With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Life Time Group Holdings going out to 2028, and you can see them free on our platform here..

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.